Director Andy Muschietti still has plans to adapt the videogame classic Shadow Of The Colossus into a movie – but says he wants $200m to make it.
For over 15 years, various directors, writers and producers have been connected to a film adaptation of the 2005 videogame classic, Shadow Of The Colossus. Since 2014, Mama and It director Andy Muschietti has been attached – and while he’s been busy making over movies in the years since, he’s recently said that his adaptation of the game is still in some form of development.
Speaking to Radio TU (via World Of Reel), Muschietti said that there was a script in place that he’s happy with, but suggested – in a vague sort of way – that there may be some concern over Shadow Of The Colossus’ relative obscurity. Although regarded as a cult classic, the PS2-era action adventure isn’t exactly Minecraft or Call Of Duty.
There’s also another potential roadblock in the way, the director added: he’s asking for a budget of $200m – roughly the same amount of money he had at his disposal when he made 2023’s The Flash.
“I want them to give me $200m, but this is another factor to take into account,” Muschietti said. “There’s a script that I really like, but there are factors that have to do not with your hobby and desire to make it, but with how popular an intellectual property like this is.”
Set in a desolate fantasy world, Shadow Of The Colossus introduces the sword-wielding hero Wander, who roams the landscape on his trusty horse, Agro, slaughtering a succession of giants. In terms of game mechanics, each giant (or colossus) is a combination of boss battle and moving puzzle, with the player having to figure out how to navigate their way up the creature’s limbs in order to attack a glowing weak spot.
What distinguishes the game is designer Fumito Ueda’s poetic, minimalistic approach. It’s told almost entirely without dialogue, and as the story unfolds, there’s the growing sense that Wander’s mission isn’t entirely honourable, and that the giants he’s slaying are essentially innocent creatures.
An adaptation of Ueda’s opus was first talked about in 2009, with producer Kevin Misher (The Scorpion King, Fighting With My Family) overseeing matters. Chronicle director Josh Trank was attached in 2012, though the reception to his 2015 Fantastic Four movie (and stories about its chaotic production) essentially torpedoed his Hollywood career. Muschietti was announced as his replacement in 2014, with Seth Lochhead (Hanna) writing the screenplay.
Things went rather quite in the years that followed, with Muschietti keeping himself busy with Stephen King adaptations It (2017) and It Chapter Two (2019), and DC superhero film The Flash (2023). The latter’s financial failure is unlikely to help Muschietti’s chances of getting $200m to make a dark fantasy film.
Then again, does a Shadow Of The Colossus adaptation really need a $200m budget? Ueda’s game has the earthy, handheld quality of an Andrei Tarkovsky film. It’s the kind of story and visual style that might benefit from a stripped-down, indie approach akin to Gareth Edwards’ Monsters or The Creator, for example.
When adaptations start getting Marvel-level money attached to them, there’s a tendency for the source material’s tone to vanish in the mix. While we shouldn’t judge a film too harshly before it’s released, The Electric State – a $300m Netflix sci-fi directed by the Russo brothers – appears to bear little resemblance to the Simon Stalenhag graphic novel on which it’s based.
Will Muschietti’s Shadow Of The Colossus ever happen? We wouldn’t put money on it, but we’ll keep you posted on future developments.
